BEGINNERS

What a loser of a movie. I entered the theater with high hopes mainly because of Ewan McGregor but 1/3rd of the way through i decided that i didn't like him after all. In fact, everyone annoyed the hell out of me;especially his French girlfriend who for some unknown quirky gallic reason had laryngitis when they first met so her inane dialogue had to be written on a pad of paper.

The basic story was about Ewan's response to the revelation that his 78 year old father was gay followed 4 years later by the dad's death from cancer. (the dad was played by Christopher Plummer who was perfectly cast; elegant, dramatic, very senior in age but handsome and mischievous and sexy, nonetheless.)

The other story line (though i feel like i'm abusing the definition of the word story by assigning it to the glacially slow (hey;, baby, he's got only one speed and it ain't fast.) and boring and dull and totally unrealistic "relationship" between McGregor and Frenchie, was their burgeoning affair.

It seemed like the movie's point (if there was one) was to show that all types and ages of people can be homosexual. But this point was not skillfully or interestingly illustrated.

2 other factors rounded out the extreme displeasure that this movie caused me (and Bill also.) Christopher Plummer the dad had a Russell Terrier dog called Arthur and he supposedly  could communicate with people and you knew this because words would appear on the bottom of the screen when he barked. He was in every single scene. I guess the adults needed something to do and look at during the interminably long pauses between "actions" and dialogue.

and the other factor was the tinkling piano music. Too loud, too honky-tonk, too repetitive, too constant.

The obituary for this film should include: McGregor's father was preceded in death by the movie itself.